Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1887-04-28
SET IN DIAMONDS.
BY Charlotte M. Braeme.
CHAPTER XII.-CoNTINUED.


not thank you for herself" she said.
Then Lord Stair took up the other
locket and chain. lie examined them
closely.
IL have never seen two things so per-
fectly alike as these two" he said;
ait is quite impossible TO find one point
In which they differ. Let me fasten
this round your neck Marguerite"
She bent her graceful head, and her
husband fastened the clasp OF the chain.
Then the diamonds shone on the pure
breast of the young mother just as they
did on that of the little child. The
August sun shone full upon them, and
the light was dazzling. What the two
gentlemen thought of the picture was
TO be seen in their eyes. Lady Perth
felt quite tired of seeing another woman
look so beautiful.
"YOu must lock little Ethel's di-
Almonds away" she said. They gre too
valuable to be left lying about In the
nursery;" and the amiable lady left
them.
They sat out in the sunshine for
some time longer; the gentlemen never
tired of looking at the beautiful woman
with the diamonds on her breast. That
was how the two lockets. which were to
play an important part in three lives,
were given; and the memory of that
August morning never died before
them. Afterward, when Lady Stair
took the locket and chain from the
baby's neck-she placed it in a pretty
little jewel box. She wrote on the
cover:
"FCr my daughter. Ethel. when she
Is old enough to recognize her fathers
face"
The sun was shining when she put
1t away, and the whole fair land was
laughing with its ripe fruit and golden
grain. She noticed one thing then that
had not particularly struck her before.
On the back of the lockets, IN richly
embossed gold were the initials I'D. S."
entwined in the true-lover's knots.
mo one could fail To recognize those
lockets," she said to herself, IL must
wear mine often; it will please Lord
Stair"
And she did wear it often. Her hus-
band was always delighted when he
saw the CLEAN of diamonds on her
white breast.
For few days that warm. bright
August Lord Stair made himself one of
his household. lie went out walking,
driving, riding with his wife and Cap
tain Este.
"You have done Lady Stair a great
deal of good" he said one day to his
kinsman. "She seems quite different;
more lively and animated"
''She is most charming companion"
said the young soldier frankly. ~
never knew how lovely and winsome a
woman could be until knew her."
"You must find wife like her,
Darcy" he said.
~ would if I could, but do not be-
lieve there Is one" he answered, and
Lord Stair liked him all the better for
his kind words.
Then the master of Oakcliile Towers
went back to his books. IL was no
longer the History of Music" but
1.-The Lives Of the Eminent Musicians"
work requiring more time, more
study, more references.
He shut himself up once more TO work.
quite content with the state of things,
The only difference was that as he
wrote now he saw more frequently
vision of beautiful, queenly girl with
diamonds shining on her breast,
At very rare intervals his conscience
did reproach him about her. True she
was happy enough, but he knew that
she ought to go TO court, that she should
be presented, that she should take up
the duties of her positions; bat he con-
soled himself by saying:
"Next year. will take her next year.
She viii be young then to run the
gauntlet of fashion. Next year will
do"
He did not notice that she grew more
beautiful every day; that in her face
lay brightness, In her eyes o light,
new to them; that her laughter was all
music, her voice all sweetness.
He saw no danger, and in the mean
time the shadow 'darkened and deepen
ed. Even at this time, had the young
mother been allowed free access TO her
child, this story would never have been
written.
1t was simply the old story, told in
another form; they were both young,
both beautiful-she, gifted with the
sweetest grace that ever woman wore,
he, brave, courageous, and noDle-what
always happens in such cases, the pas
sionate heart of the girl woke at last,
she saw the meaning Of the sunlight
and the flowers, she knew the mean
ing of the birds song, there was not one
wrong thought In her mind as she walk
ed through the flowers to her doom.
Always together. He with the win
some face and laughing eyes; he with
the honey on his lips and the first stir
of mighty passion In his heart-she
with the glamour Of first love falling
over her, always together. Out in the
grounds while the morn ng sun shone,
and in to breakfast; out again until
luncheon; long hours in the conservatory
by the Herons' Pool, on the white ter
race in the cleaning. Together until,
without either knowing 1t, the two
hearts, the two souls, the two lives had
grown into one!
Lady Perth had ceased to speak.
She no longer called her brothers. at
tention to the laughter and nonsense.
She was perfectly silent, but she saw 1t
all. She knew the whole history long
before they knew 1t themselves, and she
never even held up finger to stop it,.
She was mute and silent, while the
young, innocent, dreaming girl went
on to her doom. She never went out
with them, but she would watch them
from the windows with a darkening
frown that ended always In q bitter
laugh.
900 your way beautiful Marguerite, !"
she would say. II will not put even a
straw In your path"
There are many ways of committing
murder; not the least cruel was the
fashion in which Lady Perth helped to
STAY Marguerite Lady Stair.
CHAPTER XIII.
"IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN"